The search for a missing hiker from Plymouth has ended sadly on the Appalachian Trail in Maine.
The body of Jeffrey Aylward, a retired Plymouth firefighter, was found in a tent off the trail Monday. Aylward, who hiked under the trail name Dusty Pilgrim, had been on the last leg of his quest to hike the 2,180-mile trail from Georgia to Maine.
The 63-year-old husband and father had been reported missing by family Saturday. Officials said Aylward died as a result of a medical condition. The Maine Warden Service reported that a game warden found Aylward’s body at 10 a.m. Monday, two days after his family reported him missing.
The Warden Service reported that Aylward was in his tent about 50 yards off the trail, about 2/10ths of a mile west of Route 17 near the popular destination know as the Height of Land.